Angry mob sets police station on fire in Bhiwani

Angered by the Dadri police's 'failure' in arresting a wanted criminal in a murder of two brothers, residents of Bond Kalan village in Bhiwani district torched a police station and set fire to vehicles on Thursday.

Police record and furniture were gutted in the fire, while personnel ran for rescue. On being informed, the Dadri deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and Bhiwani DSP reached the spot with heavy police force to control the situation, but had to flee, seeing mob's fury. Their vehicles, too, faced the mob's wrath.

Protesters have served an ultimatum to the police to arrest the criminal within 48 hours else they would intensify the stir.

The cause of murder was the brothers' complaint to the police against Kulbeer. Villagers said the criminal used to loiter in brothers' fields and that was the plank of their compliant.

The murder came to light when the brothers did not return till late Wednesday night and respond to the phone calls. Upon reaching fields around 4am on Thursday, villagers found that Rajinder had succumbed to gun shots, while Kuldeep was still breathing. He was taken to the Bond Kalan community health centre and then referred to the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, but died on the way. Villagers claimed that they had informed the police about the murder, but the force had failed to respond quickly.

Kulbeer, a wanted criminal and a convict in a murder case in 2002, was out on parole. Tejpal Singh, a protester, alleged that the criminal had the backing of local police personnel and used to harass women. "As our complaints to the police against Kulbeer fell on deaf ears we have been forced to protest," he said.

Protesters blocked the Rohtak-Dadri road and vandalised the window panes of two roadways buses. On the call of truce by the district administration, protesters agreed to hold parleys with district administration officials at Sawar village near Dadri to take back the agitation. Police cordoned off the area near the village.

Bhiwani superintendent of police (SP) Simardeep Singh said: "Teams have been formed to raid the suspected